Chapter 24

"I have a confession to make." Carlisa's voice came through the green vine bushes. I closed my mouth with my hand in surprise. She's going to confess to the Crown Prince!

"So do I!" The Crown Prince exclaimed. I saw that Alvin's ears had turned red once again.

"I'll go first." Carlisa said. She is a bold girl.

Somehow, I felt a really weird feeling. It's bad to spy on them. I grabbed Alvin's shoulder and pulled him out of where we were.

"Where are we going? We could have listened to them!" He told me, indignantly.

"This isn't the time to play those pranks. Let's just give them some space for today." I firmly told him.

"Lady Rose! Lady Rose!" A knight of the duchy came running towards me as we took an exit out of the garden.

"Greetings, sir. Lady Rose, the duke asked me to notify you that they will be leaving in a few minutes." The messenger relayed the message at the same time appreciating Alvin's presence. He left as soon as he came.

"I guess, I should call it a day. Thank you for escorting me." I said to Alvin.

"It's my pleasure. Hope you have a good night!" Alvin wished me with his bright cocky smile.

"Well then. I'll take my leave." I wished him by sticking out my tongue. I seem to love teasing him these days.

But, his next move surprised me. He took my right hand in his and kissed the back of my palm. I promptly turned into a beetroot. Sirens went inside my head. This has never happened to me before! I don't know how to act! Isn't there a manual for this kind of situations?

He stole a glance at me and chuckled. I regained my composure and took a silent breath. My inner demon decided to rile him up as well.

"My~oh~my, our Archduke is quite the gentle⁓man!" I said to him, He turned into an even redder beetroot. Hahahaha hahahahaha, my plan was a success!

"I should get going. Sweet Nightmares!" I called out to him, feeling a twinge of happiness and left the garden. It was a fulfilling day!

***

One month later...

Since the ceremony held for the archduke ended, many things happened. Carlisa and Lewis got engaged. It was a surprise for most nobles but for the Emperor and Countess Floria, they knew it would happen sooner or later.

Everything was pleasant and peaceful except for one thing. THERE IS ONLY ONE MONTH LEFT FOR THE CROWN PRINCE'S BIRTHDAY CEREMONY aka THE ENTRANCE OF LILY AND BEGINNING OF THE NOVEL.

Carlisa and I wrecked our brains and noted down most of the important events. In essence, our dumb Carlisa went ahead and presented stupid plans to persuade me to stay in the duchy.

But my veins, RBCs, WBCs and platelets screamed to their nuclei's content (excluding RBCs, of course) that they needed absolute rest and to execute the escape plan or live in a dead body. I made the wise choice. The former choice they gave me.

My main reason to run away---> Have an adequate rest.

Secondary reason to runway---> Not get involved with Lily.

These were my excuses made for Carlisa.

The real reason was a whole lot worse. Since Medi informed me about how people obstruct dark magic, an anxious feeling kept popping in my mind from time to time.

I realized in due time that the duchy and everyone else around me was nice to me only because I saved them or helped them out. Once they find out that I'm a dark user, things will definitely go down the hill. It would be even worse if Lily 'accidently' exposed me.

In all honesty, I considered the idea of staying here facing Lily and the others head-on but when Medi's words came back to me, all that confidence withered away.

Final decision:- My safety is important but so are my desires. I'm inconsistent! I've never been inconsistent in my whole life. Maybe it's because I've never had the choice to choose.

I was in my room, sharpening my dagger. It glowed a little too brightly now. I infused a little bit of darkness with the aid of Erebus a little while ago. Was I stupid to leave all this? Yes, I am.

I kept practising my sword as I always do. I even accepted some duels from the knights and I went a little bit easier on them. The most enjoyable part of the past month is practising with Erebus.

He taught me many things, like, manipulating the dark stripes, using my power and balancing it with my physical skills. He additionally told me that if I work hard enough, I could create a black hole. Awesome, right?

Nidas landed on the estate once and helped me activate my water attribute. Afterwards, my dual attribute ability increased in many aspects. Now, Alvin is going to get crushed. I can't wait to experiment my new powers on him. (He's my new guinea pig/punching bag. I'll be careful not to hurt him too much though. * wink*)

One amazing ability is to control an organism through their blood. I called it blood-bending. I remembered back in my previous life that there was a series with these types of techniques and I jammed them here and there with proper respect of course.

I used my scientific knowledge, mixed it with my fictional knowledge and the knowledge that I obtained from here. Final result? I'm invincible.

Oh, how I wish that was the case! I have a few weaknesses but they are only 20% compared to my new gained abilities. The twist was that all these skills and acquisitions are top secret.

I learnt that I could create water from mere air for offence and defence. How? You know how Hydrogen and Oxygen atoms are present in the environment. All I have to do is combine them together and, voila, we have water, the invincible liquid.

These past few days, I've been receiving sudden invitations from Alvin too. Sometimes, we duel and I kick his butt. Sometimes, I help him with economical affairs. (I'm proud to say I'm fluent in the accounting field.)

For some reason, I feel like he's taking advantage of my presence by leaving all the calculations up to me. Sometimes, even Carlisa and the Crown Prince join us and we have a small talk.

At the end of all those events, Carlisa frowns at me and asks if I changed my mind. I guess all those encounters are her way of persuading me to stay.

It was a normal day as usual. I decided to hike up the cliff to discover some more techniques after placing my dagger in its rightful place. I was conversing with Erebus on one of them and he kept yelling that I cheated when I clearly did not.

He kept forming on a tree, then a rock behind me and even on the plain ground causing me to scream in surprise all just to annoy me. I have to admit that he's playful to be with.

A slight figure appeared on the cliff's surface. I looked at Erebus and he shook himself with denial. I looked closer and realized that it was Medi.

"Hey, Medi! How are things going?" I asked her in my casual tone.

"I'm sorry, but there seems to be a problem. Rose, can you please come to the lake? I'm sorry, but I'll explain soon." Medi had a pleading voice and that alerted me. Her pride never falters and now she sounded desperate.

I nodded my head at Erebus and focused on the energy around me. I created a thin black film around me as I pictured the lake. This was a technique that I can use to teleport. It's similar to those magic wielders in all those popular fantasy novels.

A black cloud of dust enveloped me and I felt my legs withering away with it. The energy has been activated. Here we go, Off to the lake.

Hello again,

I don't know why I had a goofy smile while writing all this. Did you too? Also, what do you think about Rose's inner fight? Should she leave the duchy or stay and fight head on with anyone who opposes her? Leave your thoughts in the comments and feel free to vote. Have a great day!